Spartan VI Book 1: Archon 7
by 41d3n
Summary: When a Human military ship crashlands on an enemy planet. A squad of supersoldiers must comlete their mission and survive until help arrives. Their task is made easier when they receive help from an unexpected place.
1. Prologue

_**Spartan VI**_

_**Archon 7**_

**Prologue**

**1700 hours, January 21, 2572 (Military Calendar)/**

**Stealth Recon Ship _Atlas_**

**Lieutenant Dedisa sat manning the long range sensors in the Atlas' bridge. He stared at the ballet of returning pings and wished that he was back on Earth with his family rather than seven-hundred-billion light years away. He really didn't want to be there, fighting the Covenant. He had never been good at fighting.**

**With this new thought came a flashback of the fight he got in when he was in 4th grade. His opponent then was half his size yet he still came out with a black eye and the loser. Now his opponent was an entire race. Even if the Covenant were losing they were still dangerous.**

**The Human-Covenant war had been going on for a little over 3 decades now, making it the longest official war since World War Three. The humans were the under dogs in the first third, and were even pushed back to Earth at one point, but with the help of the Spartan Super Soldiers developed just before the war the humans had been able to push the Covenant back to their last legs. They just might win this war.**

**Suddenly past the smaller asteroids and general space debris a large planet seemed to appear out of nowhere. Dedisa checked and rechecked the maps of the area. It wasn't supposed to exist. Dedisa keyed the com. "Lieutenant Dedisa to Captain Skye, Lieutenant Dedisa to Captain Skye, please respond sir" he urged into the box next to his post. A few second passed and then a response came.**

**"Captain Skye here, what is it Dedisa?"**

**"Sir, I've just picked up an unregistered planet of port zero-zero-one-five, sir."**

**"Alright I'll be there in 2 minutes. Keep just within range for now."**

**"Aye, sir."**

**The Atlas' engines cut and small thrusters in the bow ignited and slowed the Atlas to a halt. Meanwhile, Captain Skye was making his was from his cabin to the bridge.**

**The bridge doors parted with a hiss and the Captain stood in the door frame. First Lieutenant Larne, who was manning the ship while the Captain slept, turned to face the Captain. "Officer on deck!" she pronounced and gave the Captain a crisp salute. The gesture was returned and the Captain stepped on to the bridge. "So what's all this about an unregistered planet?" the Captain questioned as he eased into the command chair.**

**"Yes sir, an unmarked, or rather now we believe, miss-located planet" Larne responded.**

**"What do you mean "miss-located?" the Captain shot back.**

**"Well sir, while you were making your way to the bridge, we ran some image scans and found that the planet is actually Archon 7."**

**"Archon 7? Lieutenant you realize Archon 7 is in the Archon solar system, two-hundred-billion miles away?"**

**"Yes sir, that's why it is so strange."**

**"And you're sure it's Archon 7?"**

**"Yes sir, positive."**

**"Lieutenant Haive…" the Captain referred to a young woman sitting at the Atlas' com station.**

"**Sir?" Haive replied, looking up from a picture of her husband taped to one of the display screens.**

"**Send a level 5 message to all ships in the…"**

**Captain Skye was cut off as a 500 metre wide stream of super-heated plasma cut through the ship vaporizing him and the rest of the bridge entirely. The only part of the ship that wasn't vaporized was a remote engineering station on the bottom of the ship. There was only one man inside this. Who, as the oxygen was being sucked out of the camber explosively, was able to hit an emergency broadcast signal on the wall before he suffocated.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**Date and Time: Irrelevant/**

**Somewhere in slipspace**

**The covenant battle cruiser "Klyson" drifted through slipspace, unnaturally gentile for its chaotic surroundings. Meer inches from the hull, the twists and whips of time and space danced in a random ballet. The ship was nearly invincible to the universe it skimmed around. All weapons and shields were powered down making the vessel useless for its purpose.**

**Inside, however, it was a much different story. Covenant Engineers floated through maintenance shafts, keeping the cruiser running at full capacity. It also left the other passengers to perform their own tasks. Grunts scurried down passageways with data crystals and reports, shuttling them to and from their Elite masters. Squads of patrols lethargically made their rounds. **

**This would be a normal battle cruiser, sailing under normal circumstances, with a normal crew save for one variation. On board this cruiser was a special passenger, the covenant Prophet of Luck. However, at the moment, his name wasn't holding to its intent. He was on his way to Archon 7. The other prophets had said that it would allow him to "spread his luck to the surrounding area".**

**He didn't believe them one bit, and he was sure they were just trying to get rid of him. He was also sure they knew as well as he did that the luck that seemed to follow him since he was an infant had faded and gone. He was there when the humans had found the covenant home world. When the covenant had lost the Protoss star system, he was there. When the demon had destroyed the 7th halo, he was there. When the covenant had won all those victories in the Charon system, he wasn't there.**

**The covenant had only a few solar systems left and even those were under siege. Archon 7 wasn't, at the moment, but Luck knew that wouldn't last. Even if they had managed to move the planet to a different system entirely, that was long ago and the humans would surely have figured it out by now.**

**"Well, at least Archon 7 is nice," thought Luck, "I suppose it would be better to die there than back on that mud hole the council is stationed. Oh, I'm sure the Prophets intend to send me to be killed." Luck thought. "Maybe the humans haven't found Archon 7… no, no, they must have." Luck said aloud to himself. "I suppose they just don't care about it. I don't blame them, it's only a backwater™ communications post."**

**Then Luck had another thought.**

**Patrol Unit #452 consisted of three experienced grunts and one veteran Elite named Klast. The unit was assigned to patrol the cabin area for eight covenant Standard Time Units (STU). Then they were to report to their sleeping rooms and rest. They performed this cycle every 20 STUs and it never got any more interesting than the day before.**

**Patrol Unit 452 was on its way down the starboard cabin corridor when it came upon cabin #120. From inside the cabin came a voice. It pierced through the corridor's silence and met Klast. Following standard protocol, Klast accessed his list of cabins and their occupancies. He saw that this was the cabin of the Prophet of Luck and was about to continue on when he heard the voice again. This time he could make out what it said.**

"**I don't blame them, it's only a backwater™ communications post."**

**This intrigued Klast. Completely against protocol, Klast signaled for the rest of his unit to move along. "But sir…" one of the grunts began, but Klast cut him off.**

"**I said continue grunt."**

"**Well, actually sir, you didn't say anything. Anyhow, isn't this against proto…"**

"**I said move grunt!"**

"**Yes sir" the grunt replied weakly. The trio of mammals moved along down the corridor and turned the corner. Once they were gone, Klast was free to listen in on the prophet, and so he did. Placing his head against the door he listened through the thick metal.**

"**Wait, doesn't Archon 7 have the location of the last Halo?", Luck asked himself, "Oh my, it does. If we lose that halo, we'll never be able to get rid of those blasted elites… or any of them for that matter."**

**Klast's eyes grew wider. "Who are _them_?", thought Klast.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**0330 hours, January 24, 2572 (Military Calendar)/**

**Human Battle Cruiser _Hercules_**

**Captain Arnold Skye stood at his command station in the centre of the Hercules' bridge. He was stiff and obviously worried, as he should have been. Three days ago, he had received a subspace distress signal from the Recon Ship Atlas. Normally, he would have passed on the signal to a search and rescue ship and continued on his guard duty of the Digals System, but the ship was captained by his brother and he decided that he wouldn't sleep well if he didn't respond.**

**So here he was, leaning over a short guard rail with sweat on his brow and staring at a view screen occupied by the charred wreckage of a ship. It had taken the cruiser three days to reach the area. Captain Skye had been starring at this image for two hours now and the bridge crew became worried. "Um…, Captain?", questioned Captain Skye's second-in-command, Lieutenant-Fist-Class Ingram.**

"**Yeah?" the captain replied weakly.**

"**Are you okay, sir?"**

"**Frankly Lieutenant, no…."**

"**Well sir, I-"**

"**Do you think anyone could have survived?" Captain Skye interrupted. His second-in-command thought for a few seconds and then replied.**

"**No sir… I don't."**

"**Then I'm going to bed."**

"**Good night, sir."**

**Captain Skye didn't reply, but he did turn and leave the bridge. Lieutenant Ingram watched him leave and took the Captain's seat. "Right, can we search the wreck again?" questioned Ingram to the crew.**

"**Yes, sir, we can" replied the technician sitting at the scanner station.**

"**Good, make it so," commanded Ingram.**

**Everyone on the bridge sat silently as the ship's scanners looked for signs of life. Lieutenant Ingram yawned and looked at his watch for the first time in hours. He noted that it was 4AM and even though time was irrelevant in space, Ingram certainly felt as though he was on Earth. He had been awake for 17 hours and felt now that he had been cheated by being forced to sit in for the Captain while he slept.**

**For many more minutes, the bridge waited, until the silence was broken by a gasp from the scanner technician. He spun around and called for the Lieutenant to come to the station. Lieutenant Ingram approached eagerly and when he was within a few feet he asked, "What is it Lieutenant?"**

**"Sir, the short range sensors didn't pick up anything," replied the technician.**

**"So, what did you call me over for?"**

**"Well, sir, you see, I thought that maybe an escape pod had gotten away and so also activated the long-range sensors."**

**"Okay."**

**"Well, sir, we picked up a planet."**

**"A planet?"**

**"Yes sir."**

**Lieutenant Ingram thought for a few seconds before refocusing his attention back to the technician. "Why am I surprised about that again?"**

**"Sir," the technician looked confused, "All of this system's planets are on the other side of the sun right now."**

**"Wait, then, this _isn't _one of the system's planets?"**

**"It looks so, sir."**

**Lieutenant Ingram was exhausted. By the look on the technician's face, he could tell that he was supposed to be realizing something. When thirty seconds went by without the technician saying anything, Ingram saw that he wasn't going to get any hints. So, just to humour the technician, he pushed past his fatigue and thought of everything that had happened in the past day that they had been here. His concentration was broken by the technician's voice.**

"**Sir,… why do you think that planet is there?"**

"**Wait, you don't know?"**

"**No sir."**

"**Well, bring us closer and we'll…" Ingram trailed off as he realized what concern had been in the back of his head this whole time.**

"**Sir?" the technician asked, waiting for an order.**

**He never got that order. Lieutenant Ingram spun around and sprinted for the Captain's chair. "Shields to full power, helm, bring us around! Leave us just within optical viewing distance of that planet," Ingram ordered as he eased into the chair.**

**"Aye, sir!" the entire bridge said in unison. Technicians in multiple stations tapped furiously away at their keyboards.**

**The nuclear reactor powering up and the engines propelling the cruiser forward were enough to send many unprepared crew stumbling. It was also enough to wake Captain Skye from his light nap. He rolled out of his bed and got his bearings. He heard the dull moan of the engines and knew the ship was moving. However, he didn't know why. So he found himself stumbling out of his quarters and down the hall. **

**Lieutenant First Class Ingram was about to call to the Captain's quarters when the door slid open and Ingram heard a man shuffle in.**

**"Officer on deck!" shouted Ingram, turning around and giving a salute, as did the rest of the bridge crew. It was a janitor, a very surprised, confused, and tired janitor. Ingram, it's safe to say, had never been so embarrassed in his life. However he was saved when only three seconds later, the Captain walked in.**

**"At ease," commanded Skye. "Now lieutenant, why are we moving?"**

**"Sir, I have reason to believe that a planet, which we have recently established is not supposed to be in this system, was the one that destroyed the Atlas" replied Ingram.**

**"Show me."**

**"Yes sir."**

**With that, the main view screen switched to the aft camera and a blue-green planet appeared in the distance. Skye noted that it looked like Earth, but didn't say anything. Since humanity had taken to the stars and explored galaxies, many habitable planets had been discovered. "Do we now what planet that is?" asked Skye.**

**"Yes sir, we sent out a probe and the data we received says that it resembles Archon 7, but that's impossible," commented Ingram.**

**"Not entirely," Skye argued with a smirk.**

**"How is that, sir?"**

**"Back when I was at West Point, I had heard rumors that the covenant had found a way to move planets, even to different galaxies, using slip space."**

**"But sir, that's impossible."**

**"Agreed, but nevertheless, that would explain our friend here." Skye gestured at the view screen. "Lieutenant, those _Spartans_ we've got on board…"**

**"Yes sir?"**

**"Give them a Pelican and send them to this _planet_. I want to know what it's doing there."**

**"Yes sir, immediately sir!"**

**"Oh, and bring us all some coffee… and breakfast while you're at it."**


End file.
